


strong feelings

by mixtapestar



Series: Superhero High School [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, M/M, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-01
Updated: 2013-08-01
Packaged: 2017-12-22 02:43:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/907950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mixtapestar/pseuds/mixtapestar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Stiles is the world's shittiest empath and Derek doesn't know his own strength. A superhero high school AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	strong feelings

**Author's Note:**

> Yet another installment in the superhero 'verse. As with the others, this can be read as a stand-alone if you so desire.

Stiles has always been a tactile person, especially since his empathic ability first manifested when he was 13. He and Scott were on the highest branch of the tree in Scott's backyard, and when Scott slipped and fell, Stiles could feel the pain of his broken arm from all the way up in the tree. As he climbed frantically down, he vowed this was the last time they'd hang around in tall places. Of course, when Scott's ability to fly showed up three weeks later, that was all moot.

At the time, though, Stiles jumped out of the tree about a branch too soon and twisted his ankle, but when he reached out with a shaking hand to touch Scott's good arm, he was suddenly able to feel for Scott's pain and dull it. By the time they got to the hospital, Stiles was exhausted, but Scott had somehow understood what had happened. Stiles didn't truly believe he'd actually done anything until Scott literally floated off the ground three weeks later. Everything was different after that.

But still, Stiles can't help but touch the people he likes all the time. A clap on the shoulder, pat on the back, ruffling of hair, any excuse he can think of. It just makes him feel better. Scott is used to it, and his other friends begrudgingly accept it.

Derek Hale hates it.

The worst part is that Derek doesn't _just_ hate it. He won't tell Stiles to stop like any normal person would. He just tenses up whenever Stiles is around and the couple of times Stiles forgets, he has to quickly pull his hand back when Derek's glare and bad vibes overwhelm him.

It wouldn't bother him so much if he wasn't crazy about the guy.

******

"What are you doing, Stiles?" Derek asks, annoyed.

"I'm reorganizing the books on this shelf," Stiles answers, avoiding eye contact with Derek. This lab is a mess anyway.

"You're supposed to be helping me fill out this pre-lab exercise," Derek reminds him, as if Stiles didn't know. As always, Derek focuses on the mixing, and Stiles answers the questions.

"No problem," Stiles says, "just read it out to me."

"It would be _easier_ if you'd just calm down for two seconds and read the questions with me."

Stiles sighs. "I think it's better for both of us if I stay over here."

Derek's jaw clenches so hard that Stiles worries for a second about Derek's teeth. Does super strength apply to your own body? Probably not, since the force from both sides would be super strong. Still, if anyone could do it, it would be Derek.

After a pause in which Stiles can feel the surge of Derek's annoyance (always annoyance when Stiles is around, he thinks begrudgingly), Derek reads off the first question.

Stiles keeps his distance by continuing to shuffle the books - first by height, then by author, and so on - until they get through the questions. It's too bad he won't have a similar excuse in tomorrow's lab.

******

Once they get to work the following morning, it only takes them 15 minutes to break something.

"Look, I know you hate being in chem class with us lowly sophomores, okay, but the sooner we get this done, the sooner you can ask for a new lab partner."

"I don't want a new lab partner," Derek grits quietly, "I want my _current_ lab partner to stop treating me like a ticking time bomb and do his half of the work."

"A time bomb? What is that supposed to mean? You're the one who can't stand for me to be within 10 feet of you."

And that's when Derek sets the beaker down too roughly, and it shatters in his hand. "Fuck," Derek murmurs to himself, steadfastly ignoring the stares of their fellow students. The glass does nothing to harm his tough skin, but the beginnings of their mixture are spreading across the table in a slow ooze, and Stiles knows it's too late to salvage it.

"Really, boys?" Mr. Reynolds says, disappointed, as he makes his way to their lab table. He sighs and makes a note on his clipboard. "I can give you a chance to make up the lab, but you'll have to mix a new batch to sit for at least 8 hours as you did last night. The lab will be free tomorrow night starting at 6. I expect your final results to be waiting for me by the following morning."

Stiles can feel the guilt rolling off Derek in waves, but it wasn't all his fault. Derek's strength may have gotten the better of him for a second, but Stiles can admit he had provoked him. They clean up the mess in silence and begin to repeat the work from yesterday's class.

"Pour it against the stirrer," Derek instructs, finally breaking the strained silence.

"Oh, right," Stiles says, quickly realizing his mistake. This is why he usually trusts Derek with the actual mixing of things. "You can do this, you know, if you want."

"I'd hate to prove your point twice," Derek grumbles.

"Okay seriously," Stiles says, setting the beaker aside, "what 'point' do you think I'm trying to make? Because I was pretty sure we were just here to mix some shit together and hopefully not blow anything up by accident."

Derek frowns at him, confused. "Why did you say that about being within 10 feet of me?"

Stiles huffs a laugh, returning his focus to the task at hand. "I can feel how uncomfortable you get when I get close to you, you know. Kind of comes with the whole empath package."

"That's all you can feel?" Derek says, disbelieving. "Discomfort?"

"Discomfort, annoyance, the beginnings of rage. Trust me, I've taken the hint. It's not my fault we have to be lab partners."

Derek doesn't say anything in reply for a minute, instead focusing on carefully crushing up chalk with the mortar and pestle. Stiles can feel his confusion still present, which just confuses him too.

When Derek does speak, he does so quietly as he measures the right amount of chalk on the scale. "Most people are just waiting for me to lash out at them and break things. I guess that's what comes with the whole strength package."

Stiles feels an inopportune rush of affection for Derek as he painstakingly pours every last grain of chalk into the beaker. "Hey, in your defense, putting you in a room full of glass puts you at a higher disadvantage than most."

Derek looks back at him for a second before smiling slightly. Stiles suddenly can't get a read on him at all, and he fights the impulse to shift uncomfortably. That doesn't happen to him very often.

******

They meet up in the lab after dinner the next night to finish their work. Derek seems to be in a better mood than Stiles usually sees. "Looks like you woke up on the right side of the bed for once," Stiles says, unable to help himself.

Derek smirks. "Managed not to punch through the headboard when my alarm went off for once."

Stiles makes an interested noise as he removes their sample from the storage cabinet. "You should petition for a reinforced headboard. You never know, might come in handy."

Derek laughs, slightly disbelieving. "Somehow I don't think staff would go for that."

"It's a _safety precaution_ ," Stiles says, emphatic. He's in a good mood too by the time they get properly started.

They get along fine and the experiment goes well until Stiles spills some of their third sample during the final pour into the tube for the centrifuge.

"How many times have I told you to use the stirrer?" Derek says, grabbing the beaker out of his hand and taking over. "Go wash your hands."

"This one's not acidic," Stiles says, angry mostly at himself but a little bit at Derek too.

"Go wash them anyway."

"Fine," Stiles snaps back, stomping over to the sink. "You'll work better with me over here anyway."

"God, are you still on that?" Derek says, crouching down to make sure he pours the right amount into the tube. Stiles carefully looks away from his ass and focuses instead on washing and drying his hands.

"There, are you happy?" Stiles says, brandishing his clean hands as he walks back to the table. "And yes, I'm still 'on that'. I can't turn off my ability, so I always know how much you don't want me around."

"What are you reading off me right now?" Derek demands, standing at his full height.

Stiles swallows, fighting against the surge of want shooting through him. "Annoyance, as always," he says, "though it's hard to tell because I'm pretty damned annoyed at you too, and it's all sort of mixing together."

"I knew it," Derek says, stepping closer. "You can't differentiate between your feelings and someone else's."

Stiles glares at him, refusing to be intimidated. "Fuck you, I can sometimes. Mostly if I'm touching the other person. Just because I've only been here like a year--"

"Then touch me," Derek says, interrupting and holding out his arm.

"Huh?" Stiles says, but Derek just raises his eyebrows in a challenge. "Okay, you asked for it."

At first, when Stiles circles Derek's wrist with his fingers, he doesn't notice anything. Mainly he's trying hard not to reveal his own emotions to Derek, because he knows this can work both ways. But then he notices a spike of desire that, after a second, he realizes didn't originate with him. His eyes snap up to Derek's to find him staring back intently, the look in his eyes making so much more sense now that Stiles can feel their separate energies, their mutual desire.

" _Fuck_ ," Stiles intones, keeping his grip on Derek's wrist as he steps into his space. He feels a smile spread across his face. "How long has that been going on?"

"Long enough," Derek says, his free hand resting carefully on Stiles's hip. "I figured you'd always known."

"I hate you so much right now," Stiles says, and pulls him into a kiss.

******

"Oh my god," Stiles says when he opens his door to discover Scott and Isaac making out on Scott's bed. "Okay, I need you to clear out like five minutes ago."

"Dude, what's wrong?" Scott asks, concerned. Isaac just seems put out by the interruption.

"Nothing's _wrong_ , I just need the room. Now." When neither of them make any move to follow his directions, he heaves a deep sigh and explains, "Derek's on his way up here, and I have at least a fifty percent chance of getting laid."

More like eighty, if Stiles was reading Derek right, but he doesn't want to jinx it. Finishing up that lab was almost painful. The only thing that got him through it was that Derek agreed they could finish up the remaining follow-up questions in Stiles's room. Which he now only has 6 minutes to clear.

"You and Derek?" Isaac says, disbelieving, at the same time Scott says, a little more excitedly, "When did this happen?"

"It's still _happening_ ," Stiles says, "and I'm pretty sure you both owe me for clearing out about forty times over the past few weeks."

"Yeah, we're going, we're going," Scott says, amused. He holds out his fist for Stiles to bump on his way out, saying quietly, "I expect details on this later."

"Yeah, yeah, news at 11," Stiles agrees, shooting him a grateful smile as they fistbump.

The next few minutes are brutal, because Stiles is suddenly overwhelmed by the need to hide everything he owns. Should he put his comic books away? No, that's stupid, Derek's seen him reading them before. Actually, their lunch table had a whole conversation about mental abilities being present in comic books one day, and Stiles is only just now remembering how enthusiastically Derek contributed.

He's busy stuffing all his ramen back into the box under his bed when Derek knocks on his door. "Come in," Stiles says, then curses himself because he could've had up to 30 seconds to clean some more.

"What are you doing?" Derek says a few seconds later when Stiles is halfway under the bed trying to push the overfull tupperware box back into its proper place.

Stiles bangs his head against the side of his bed trying to get up too quickly. He didn't expect Derek to be standing so close. "Ow. Cleaning?"

Derek crosses his arms. "This isn't going to be like the bookshelf the other day, is it?" Stiles straightens and rubs at his head to will the pain away. "Because I'm not reading off the questions to you again."

"No," Stiles says, still cringing a little at the pain. He takes two giant steps forward into Derek's space and uncrosses his arms for him. "That was just a precaution to keep me from accidentally jumping you, a concept I thought you vehemently opposed to," he explains, casually looping his arms around Derek's neck. "But now I know the truth. You don't fool me."

Derek supports his weight easily as Stiles _does_ jump him, literally, legs wrapping around him as his lips find Derek's own. Derek kisses back as aggressively as Stiles always imagined he would, but his hands are gentle at Stiles's sides.

Stiles is really starting to get into it, his tongue curling against Derek's while his feet press against his ass, and from the way his hips are moving, Derek's pretty into it too. Stiles makes an encouraging noise as Derek lowers him onto the bed, but then Derek moves away, reaching for his bookbag on the floor. He has a brief flicker of hope that he's just reaching for something to move things right along, but no, he comes back with a pencil and his lab book.

Stiles groans. "Are you kidding? Derek, all work and no play makes Stiles… really fucking horny."

Derek laughs, shouldering his way into the space next to Stiles so that their shoulders are pressed together. "I wanna get this done," he says, and then meets Stiles's eyes, "so that I can spend the rest of my night on other things."

Stiles's breath catches slightly when Derek leans over to kiss him, licking into his mouth in just a slight tease before pulling away, and Stiles can feel the energy of their affection curling together.

"Such a fucking tease," Stiles murmurs, willing his heart to stop beating so fast.

The follow-up questions are ridiculous, so ridiculous because they require Stiles to think, which is the last thing he wants to do right now.

"You're usually better at this," Derek finally says, amusement lacing his tone.

"I know, I'm sorry," Stiles says, rubbing at his eyes. "It's because we're touching. Let me just--" He climbs off the bed and grabs his chemistry book, sitting at the edge near Derek's feet when he returns.

Derek raises his eyebrows. "Can't you still feel everything from there?"

"Yeah, but from here it's not pounding in my ears in stereo."

"Fair enough," Derek says with a smirk, turning his attention back to the questions.

They come up with three whole sentences for the last question, and Stiles waits with bated breath as Derek looks over their answers.

"Okay, that's good," he says, and Stiles exhales.

" _Finally_ ," Stiles breathes, climbing over Derek. He tilts Derek's chin up and kisses him, flooded with that same warm energy from before. Derek hums into his mouth as he feels it too, and then his fingers clench against Stiles's hips when he deliberately rubs against him.

Derek's hands fall away suddenly, but Stiles just uses it as an opportunity to slide his way down Derek's body, hands running over his chest through his shirt until he can get at Derek's fly. He looks up at Derek carefully as he rubs along the front of his briefs. "You want this, right?"

Derek swallows, and Stiles can feel the thrum of his want, but he wants to hear it. Derek nods, his voice pitched low when he says, "Yes."

Stiles smiles triumphantly and pushes Derek's clothes just far enough out of the way to get at his cock. He licks down the length of it and then tongues the head, keeping his gaze focused on Derek as much as possible to take in every last shift of his expression.

"Stiles, wait," Derek says before Stiles can really get going.

"What is it?" Stiles says, pulling back. "What's wrong?"

Derek reaches for him to prevent him from moving too far. "Nothing, just. I was only halfway kidding about the headboard," Derek warns.

"I wasn't even halfway kidding about my solution," Stiles answers, eyes dancing. "It's just a headboard. I can get a new one at IKEA and no one'll know the difference."

Derek smiles. "I'm more concerned about you then the headboard," he clarifies. "I just don't wanna hurt you."

Stiles nods, understanding. "Just tell me if you start to lose control. We can go slow."

"Yeah," Derek says, nodding. "Good."

When Stiles goes down on him again, Derek slides a tentative hand into his hair. He doesn't push or pull, just rests his hand there, and Stiles trusts him. He swallows down as much of Derek's cock as he can and works up a rhythm, picking up the sparks of arousal and hitches of breath or hitches of hips that he occasionally draws from Derek. It's doing wonders for him, being able to feel so much. He rubs a hand against the front of his pants and wonders if one day he could come just from shared feeling, without being touched.

It feels like no time and also forever before Derek speaks up, telling Stiles to back off for a second. He moves up for a kiss and Derek's hands map their way across his body, more confident where they weren't before. "I wanna see you," Derek says, fingers going to the buttons on Stiles's shirt.

"Yeah," Stiles agrees breathily, still a little dazed from that kiss. They make short work of his clothes, and then of Derek's, until they're just staring at each other, mutually appreciative, with Stiles's hand captured in Derek's to keep the feed of energy going. "Can I get you off now?" Stiles asks, the fingers of his free hand inching up Derek's thighs. "I'll go slow."

"Not yet," Derek says, pulling him in for a thorough kiss. "Maybe you could flip," Derek suggests. "Let me suck you for a while and you can slowly get back to me. _Slowly_."

Stiles's eyes widen as Derek explains, and he's sporting a brilliant grin by the time he's finished. "This bed size is not ideal, but I'm totally down for that," he says, running his thumb across Derek's lower lip. He dips down to kiss him again, briefly, before making that happen.

There's a lot of awkward moving and shifting at first, but then Derek takes Stiles's cock into his mouth, and it's amazing. He wants to reciprocate for Derek, but knows the importance of going slow. He uses his hands to stroke Derek, to cup his balls and, after a second's hesitation, to reach back and circle a finger around his hole. Derek groans a little around his cock when he does that, which just makes it doubly hot. Stiles doesn't want to rush into anything, and he's pretty sure Derek would agree, but it's definitely something for later.

When he's starting to get really into Derek's rhythm, he takes Derek's cock back into his mouth, shifting a little until he can move at the same pace. When he starts to feel a little out of his own control and Derek's hips seem to be snapping out of his control too, Stiles pulls off and feels Derek do the same.

He can't scramble up fast enough, his hand going to his cock as he flips back to be able to kiss Derek. He's so close, and he can feel that Derek is too as he brings their cocks flush with each other and works them both. They make out hungrily as Derek's hand joins his, and the energy between them feels nearly deafening as Stiles starts to come, nearly at the same moment as Derek.

"Holy shit," Stiles says, panting, as the pleasure of his orgasm pitches down to comprehensive levels.

Derek nods, equally breathless. "That was--"

"--yeah," Stiles agrees. "Shared empathy, definitely one of the perks. And you didn't break the headboard!"

"I didn't," Derek says with a lazy smile. He wraps an arm around Stiles's shoulders to pull him in for a kiss. "There's always next time."

Stiles grins. "I'm so glad Reynolds forced you to work with me."

Derek rolls his eyes. "Reynolds didn't force us to be lab partners. One of the twins, the angry one, asked me to switch and work with him after day one. I said no."

"They're both pretty angry," Stiles says before he processes what Derek's saying. "Wait, really?"

Derek shrugs. "I thought you could already read that I was attracted to you. I figured us working together would be a good way to find out if it was mutual."

"Oh, it's mutual," Stiles says, as if it needs to be said. He snickers. "Lab partners, more like lap partners."

Derek stares back at him, unimpressed. "I take it all back."

"Liar," Stiles says, leaning in to kiss him again. Derek is smiling when he kisses back.

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to [follow me on tumblr](http://candidlily.tumblr.com) if you so desire! <3


End file.
